Postal customers can leave nonperishable food items next to their mailboxes on Saturday and carriers will pick them up. After making the collection, carriers will deliver them to food pantries across the state.

The is a time of year when the Salvation Army faces reduced amounts of donations.

"The food panty's a little bare and we have to actually buy the food in bulk to stock the food pantry so we can service people, and what this program does for us is it allows us to stock our pantry and last year carried us right through to Thanksgiving time," Maj. Steve Ditmer of the Salvation Army said.

In 2012, letter carriers across United States collected more than 70 million pounds of food in a day.